The ancestor of the Mott family, which has so many representatives in various portions of the country, was Adam Mott, who was born in England in 1606 and came to Boston in 1636. He was chosen freeman in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1637, from which place he moved and settled at Newton, L. I., and afterward went to Hempstead. At the time of the English conquest, in 166-4, he was one of the commissioners for arranging the transfer of New Amsterdam to the English government. He died at Hempstead, L. I., in 1686, leaving a wife, Sarah, and six children -- John, Adam, Joseph, Elizabeth, Nathaniel and Mary.

Of this famil}', Adam, the second son, was born in England in 1629, and came with his father to America. His first wife was Phebe, whose maiden-name is unknown. After her decease he married Elizabeth, probably daughter of John Richbell, whose name was prominent among the early settlers of Westchester. He died at an advanced age, leaving fourteen children-- Adam,, James, Charles, John, Joseph, Gershom, Elizabeth (wife of Henry Goder), Henry, Grace, Richbell, Ann, William, Mary and Hannah (wife of John Seaman). The descendants of these are very numerous. Charles, the third son, was one of a company of eighteen who, in 1719, emigrated from Hempstead, L. L, to what is now Rockland County, N. Y. where they purchased a large tract of land, and some of his descendants are still to be found in that region. Among the descendants of William Mott may be mentioned the famous surgeon. Dr. Valentine Mott, late of the city of New York, while James has many descendants in Westchester County.